College police focus on campus

Marietta’s mission is similar to those at OU, Muskingum College

April 20, 2009

Marietta College is not alone in having its campus security handled by a full-fledged police force.

About an hour north of Marietta, Muskingum College at New Concord is of similar size to Marietta College and is also a private school.

Director of Campus Police Rex Newbanks said he and his five officers are fully trained and carry guns.

"Up to a while ago, we were one of the few small campuses with a police department and have had one since 1990," he said.

The campus police have arrest powers and may refer to village or county courts, if necessary.

"But in 99.8 percent of cases, discipline remains on campus," Newbanks said. "It all depends on the offense and the particular circumstances."

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More about campus police

This is the last installment in The Marietta Times' special report about Marietta College's campus police department .

In the weekend editon we examined the department's status as a full-fledged police department and how it works with other law enforcement agencies.

Muskingum College experiences the same types of crimes and incidents common to every other college and university, Newbanks said. A positive at the school is that the past two years, 2007 and 2008, there were no reported rapes.

The Ohio University Police Department's jurisdiction includes a two-square-mile campus and 20,000 students, 9,000 of whom live in residence halls.

"There is no discernible difference between city and campus police departments," said OU campus police Chief Andrew Powers. "Ohio University is our city."

The department employs 25 officers, who carry guns, and has six patrol cars, as well as bike and foot patrols. Officer training is no different from that received at any other municipal police agency, Powers said. In addition, campus police are reserve officers with the city of Athens and the departments have a mutual aid agreement.

The most common reported offense is theft, but the most common arrest on campus is underage consumption of alcohol, Powers said.

Violent crimes do happen on campus, but rarely.

"We took a rape report over spring break, and there have been two or three reports since I came here," Powers said.

Crimes of a serious nature are reported to the city, while, depending on the discretion of officers, on-campus offenses may be reported in-house to judicial affairs.

"If we arrest a student and he or she is charged, it goes to Athens Municipal Court," Powers said.

Most university police departments grew out of security operations prior to the 1970s when legislation was passed in the state that provided for campus police departments, Powers said.

West Virginia University at Parkersburg's campus police department was initiated in 1990 and, until the past year, has always had two police officers on duty, according to Lt. Allen Collins, the single officer now serving the campus.

"We have mainly day students and are not a residential campus," Collins said. "We do have two security officers also."

The officers are not armed.

The student population varies from 3,500 to 3,800.

"This is a very quiet campus," Collins said. "Mainly, parking violations and traffic enforcement are the issues. We've experienced no assaults - nothing - and petty theft would be the most major of the crimes we see."

WVU-P police are aided by the Wood County Sheriff's Department when necessary. Any violations of campus policy are referred to the campus dean of students for review.